Sharp differences emerged between the police and members of the medical board after the former submitted a chargesheet declaring decorated athlete Pinki Pramanik as being a male and proceeding to accuse the person of raping a woman while the doctors told HT Pramanik was not a male but a “male pseudo hermaphrodite”.

On June 14, a 32 year-old woman lodged a complaint with the Baguihati police here against Pramanik, saying ‘he’ had raped her with the promise of marriage.

Pramanik had also grabbed her properties, the woman alleged in the complaint, on the basis of which Pramanik was arrested and produced before a court the same day.

Defending the police version Shantomay Basu, additional public prosecutor said, “The medical board that examined Pinki Pramanik declared Pramanik as being a male having the ability to rape. The police have filed the chargesheet in this regard.”

Members of the medical board told HT they differed with the police.

“Pinki is neither a male nor a female. Pramanik is a male pseudo hermaphrodite. It is genetic disorder. That’s the medical opinion. It’s now for the court to deliberate,” Dr BN Kahali, board chairman, said.

Charged with rape, Pinki says police want her to commit suicide

KOLKATA Citing a medical report that claimed that gold medallist athlete Pinki Pramanik was a “male”, police Monday filed a chargesheet in a West Bengal court accusing the sportsperson of rape.The police chargesheet was based on the opinion of a sevenmember medical board constituted to confirm the athlete’s gender in June following allegations by her live-in partner that she was “actually a male” who had raped her repeatedly.
The formal set of charges was filed inthecourtofchiefjudicialmagistrate at Barasat town in North 24 Parganas district. Pinki is now out on bail.
Alleging a “huge conspiracy” after police filed a chargesheet Pramanik saidtheinvestigatingauthoritieswere trying to force her to commit suicide.
Pinki said that contrary to the police claim, the medical report had concluded that she was incapable of committing rape. However, she said despite requests, she had not been givenacopyofthemedicalreport.“Police have plotted a huge conspiracy againstme.Theyaretryingtoforceme into committing suicide,” said Pinki. The chargesheet said Pinki was a male and accused the athlete of raping her live-in partner.PINKI MALE: MEDICAL REPORTThe chargesheet was based on the opinion of the seven-member medical board which had been constituted at the state-run SSK Hospital to confirm the athlete’s gender in June following allegations from her live-in partner that she was “actually a male” who had raped her repeatedly.
“Medical tests have confirmed thatPinkiisnotafemale,”B.N.Kahali, chairman of the board, told AFP. “Pinki is a male pseudo-hermaphrodite. Wehavesubmittedthemedicalreport to the district sessions court.”
Male pseudo-hermaphrodites are genetic males who develop some female physical characteristics and identities. Additional Public Prosecutor Santomoy Bose said after the hearing: “I have seen the report…from the doctors’ opinion it can be concluded that Pinki is a male.” The chargesheet alsoaccusedPinkioftorture,cheating, co-habiting with the promise of marriage and threat to the complainant not to disclose their relationship.
“As per my knowledge, the board had said I had symptoms of excess male hormones as after-effect of some of the drugs I had taken during my sports career,” Pinki said.
The athlete was arrested June 14 and remanded to judicial custody the nextdayaftertheathlete’slive-inpartner,adivorceeandamotherofone,filed the police complaint.
Pinki was later taken to a private nursing home for a medical check-up where the test reports claimed that the athlete was indeed a male. The athlete was taken to the Barasat district hospital and finally to the state-run SSKM Hospital here for the tests.
As SSKM Hospital did not have facilities for chromosome pattern test, the samples were sent to Hyderabad where the examination was done.
Pinki later alleged that she was treated like an animal during gender tests which were done by tying her hands and feet.
The treatment meted out to the athlete had then attracted severe criticism from all quarters, including the sporting fraternity. Pinki, who retired from athletics three years ago, won gold in the 4×400 metres relay at the 2006 Asian Games in Qatar’s capital Doha. Pinki was a silver medallist at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games the same year.